


Shades of Blue

by orphan_account



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, M/M, Total Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-09-19
Updated: 2014-09-19
Packaged: 2018-02-17 17:41:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,925
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2317841
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Dean Winchester has spent the past 27 years of his life seeing in shades of gray. He's grown accustomed to thinking of himself as broken, even when he'd had that flash of color when he was 18. But that was years ago, and for all he knows, his soulmate could be dead. They could be all the way around the world, down in China or maybe six feet under. And then he sees a flash of blue for the first time in 9 years, and everything changes.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Shades of Blue

Dean had spent the last 27 years of his life seeing shades of gray. More than 50, of course - he'd experienced every possible hue and color and possible combination of grays. Gray was familiar. Gray was his life, his soul - gray. Gray bed, gray house, gray work uniform. The cars he worked on were gray. The sky was gray. Sam's hair was gray, his mother's eyes were gray, and every single person he'd ever met had just been flat hues of the same color. It wasn't the best life to live. Most people managed to find soulmates in their early twenties, and even if they didn't, some people got married anyway. Living their lives out with no color. And Dean had tried that - he'd tried with Cassie, he'd even tried it with Lisa, but both of those had ended up making him more miserable. Waking up in the morning and fighting through the routine, still without color. There was still an emptiness in him that he couldn't figure out how to fill or remove. So he drudged on, alone. 

It wasn't like he'd never seen colors before. He had a glimpse of the spectrum when he was 18, thinking some kind of miracle was at work.  _Two Winchesters finding their soulmates the same year? Holy shit._ Sam had met Jess when they were 14 and just going into high school. Dean had never seen his little brother so happy - bouncing off the walls, telling Dean all about how everything was so beautiful and vibrant. Their mother had pulled out a chart, showing each color and the matching name to him. Sam told Dean what colors he was made out of. Green, for his eyes. Varying shades of brown and pink for his skin and freckles, a mix of lighter browns for his hair. They were meaningless for Dean, up until a week later. 

He'd woken up as usual, ready to seize the day and whatever crap would come with it. Except when he sat up and looked at the window, he noticed that everything was different.

Nothing was gray.  _Nothing._  

Sure, everything was in pastels - the colors were always dimmed down until you actually met the person you were supposed to be with. Like a hot-and-cold game. So the second Dean saw the colors and realized they were getting dimmer, he ran out of bed and out the door. He noticed they got more vivid when he went downtown, so he hopped in the car and drove.  _Paler, darker. Pale, vibrant. REALLY bright. Pastel again._   _  
_

Dean chased for two hours, as if the person he was searching for hadn't stopped moving at all. When he noticed that the color was getting dimmer than it had at first in the morning, he tried to find his way, but he'd ended up in some neighborhood he was unfamiliar with. The last spark of color came right as he left the highway, and he knew he had to have just passed them - he'd never seen the sky look so... whatever it was.  _Blue. Sammy said the sky was blue._

It faded in twenty minutes. Back to gray, back to normal. Dean spent the week in bed, trying desperately not to cry or scream or punch something.  _I was so close. God FUCKING damn._

 

Dean had accepted that he would never see blue again. Or green, or yellow, or red. He could never.  _Never._

 

He woke up and went through the normal routine. Out of bed, shower, brush teeth, comb hair. Coffee with Benny the over to Bobby's for work. Make sure you have the right parts and don't screw up anyone's orders. Try to pick up a chick, fail to pick her up. See Benny again before work ends, spend ten minutes chatting, back home. Movie, food, shower again, sleep. Repeat.

The cycle repeated three more days when he woke up and noticed the change. His eyes weren't as good as they used to be, so he thought it might have just been a trick of the light - except light coming through the window couldn't make him see yellow. He couldn't even remember yellow, other than it had been too bright for his liking. But here it was,  _yellow. In his room_. 

Dean ran out of bed. The color got brighter. He texted Benny that he'd be late  _(Why in the hell did no one tell me I picked a pink phone?)_ and sprinted downstairs. The first thing he looked at was the sky - and sure enough, it was blue.

 

***

 

Castiel had never seen color in his entire life. He'd been told that he was made of beautiful colors and that the world was gorgeous, but he had no idea if either was true. Not once had he glimpsed the beauty of a night sky, or a river, or the grand mountains. The closest thing he'd gotten was a haze at age 19. Driving around in a foreign town with his brother, and he'd decided to sleep. Upon waking up, he noticed the trees were slightly less gray than usual. It was gone in ten minutes, right as they exited the town. He never mentioned it to anyone, preferring to keep it a secret. He may have found the right one in that city. Just maybe. 

_But you didn't. Stop hoping._  

Castiel was used to being alone. He'd tried dating before, and it had never worked out. His family had tried setting him up, all of which had ended in failure. He was content living in his apartment in Illinois with his books and teaching classes to high schoolers that didn't care. The five students in his class that  _did_ care made it worth his while. He enjoyed his job, he loved his home, and he was happy with the constant gray cloaking his vision. Except he'd gotten a call just a week earlier, informing him that he was being "let go". Too many teachers, too much money to dole out. Castiel had the smallest number of students enrolled in his Advanced English class, and was therefore the first option. 

That had made everything significantly more complicated.

Luckily, there were jobs. Several states away. In Lawrence, Kansas.  _Kansas_. Of all states, he gets dropped into Kansas. It's not all bad, of course - he has a job there, and it's teaching college instead. More sophisticated students, better pay. His apartment isn't as expensive and it's still roughly the same size. It'll be okay. Sure, he's got to get used to the weird accents and the heat, but he can manage all of that. The thing Castiel wasn't expecting was to start seeing color on the walls when he stepped into the apartment. 

Castiel had no idea what to call the shades on the walls and the ghastly appearance of the carpet; for a split second, he thinks he's having some kind of stroke, or maybe he's hemorrhaging in his brain. Whatever it is, it's  _blinding_. 

He darted out of the room, and was instead greeted with even brighter colors. They fade for a brief second, becoming vibrant again a moment later. Castiel stops moving out in the street, realizing with a chill what's happening.  _They're here. In Lawrence._  He ran, looking up at the sky to check if it grew duller or brighter. Kansas was far better in color.

 

***

 

The color was brightest once Dean got into the center of downtown. The only downside? Dozens of people wandering around, going in stores, walking to work,  _tons_ of potential soulmates.

Dean was nervous, to put it lightly. The final step to finding a soulmate is different for most people. Sometimes it's hearing their voice the first time, or maybe seeing them smile. Sometimes it's not even that, you just  _know._ But Dean had never seen color in such a beautiful way before - and he had no fucking clue if this was as bright as they got. 

He left the Impala next to a meter, dropping in a few quarters and stepping into the center of the crowd. He looked up, and the blue was even bluer than before; the difference almost felt like a punch in the face.  _Damn, that's bright._ The color waned, and he had a moment of panic. What if they're not here to stay? We're close right now, we have to be - but what if they're just passing through like last time?  _What if this is my last chance?_

Dean decided the best course of action was to try and find someone looking frantically around. His soulmate - or whatever, permanent best friend, wife, husband, etc. - had to be looking for him too this time, right? The color had to be this bright for them too - right?

He walked over to a bench in front of a small shoe store, a good vantage point of the crowd. He knew he probably looked pretty creepy staring so intently at all the people walking around, but there were more important things to think about. Like his poor soulmate, wandering aimlessly around Lawrence. He just stopped for a moment to look around and admire everything, every single drop of color on the spectrum. Dean looked down at himself, realizing that he looked kind of like Sam had described. The Impala was black. That woman over there had red hair, and an orange purse. The dog walking by had multiple colors - Dean had never been able to differentiate between the subtle shades of gray, but now he could plainly see the white, tans and browns adorning the dog's fur. He couldn't stop smiling at the world. It had been awhile since his face had hurt from grinning too much. 

A scuffling sound behind Dean brought him back to the task at hand - ah, yes. Soulmate. The color in front of him cranked up another notch, and he whipped around, realizing that he was alone an the sidewalk. All alone except for one other person standing directly behind the bench, and Dean would have needed to sit down if he hadn't already been sitting.

He was gorgeous. That was the only way to describe him, really - breath-taking, stunning,  _beautiful._  A mess of dark brown hair, strands sticking up everywhere; tanned skin, full rosy lips and cheeks pink from running. He was dressed in the ugliest beige trench coat Dean had ever seen, but it didn't matter. He was too lost in the guy's eyes - blue. But bluer than the sky had been. There was a spark in them, a kind of icy fire. He was breathing heavy as he looked down at Dean, eyes wide and hopeful. 

Dean stood slowly, gulping down air as if he'd been underwater. That's what it felt like looking at the guy - it felt like drowning. But not in a bad way, necessarily. Dean reached out, extending his hand slowly and attempting a smile. 

"Dean Winchester, at your service," Dean realized that the guy must have been more eager due to the sudden feeling of lips against his and a hand cradling his cheek.

It was a soft kiss, something that made Dean's heart flutter and a warmth spread all the way down to his knees. He hadn't even realized his eyes had closed, but when he opened them, he knew that this world was much too beautiful in color. The man - well, unnamed soulmate - was now holding Dean's hand softly, a tender smile gracing his features.

"Castiel Novak. Hello, Dean." 

Dean let his grin grow wide, not sure if the world could quite compare to Castiel.

**Author's Note:**

> soulmate AUs will be the death of me.. so i wrote one. naturally.  
> hope you liked it! feedback is encouraged and whatnot.  
> maybe i'll turn this into an actual story. probably not.


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